It was the sort of breathless, blink-and-you’ll-miss-something afternoon that raised far more questions than it answered. For instance, was this deserved point proof that Crystal Palace’s decision to bring back Neil Warnock as manager is a masterstroke? Did Rolando Aarons’s thrillingly incisive contribution, after stepping off the substitutes’ bench, confirm that he is the most gifted product of Newcastle United’s academy in decades?

Are Louis van Gaal and Manchester United already regretting allowing Wilfried Zaha to return to Palace on a season-long loan in the wake of his fabulous stoppage-time equaliser? Perhaps most pertinently, does this latest failure to win at home mean time is finally running out for Alan Pardew on Tyneside?

One thing is definite: Warnock is relishing his second honeymoon with Palace. “At 5am, and then half an hour before kick-off, I wondered what I was doing,” he said, jokingly. “But I’m loving being back, this job just feels right.”

It took his team 31 seconds to take the lead. When Marouane Chamakh’s shot was fumbled by the keeper, Tim Krul, the excellent Dwight Gayle pounced on the rebound, using his left foot to divert the ball into the back of the net from close range.

Newcastle could soon have fallen further behind had Jason Puncheon not shot a fraction too high after connecting with Yannick Bolasie’s clever assist. Shortly afterwards came the first chants of “Hatem Ben Arfa” from home fans questioning why Pardew’s most talented player continues to languish in the club’s deep freeze, exiled from any first-team involvement.

Effectively closing his ears to this message, Pardew shook his head and muttered to himself before turning sharply on his heels and swapping his technical area for the sanctuary of the dug-out.

He desperately needed some slick attacking action to distract the crowd, but little was forthcoming until Moussa Sissoko shot narrowly, and powerfully, wide at the end of an exhilarating counter-attack.

No matter; the moment when a Newcastle player would score for the first time this season – their goal in the 1-0 League Cup win at Gillingham had been registered unintentionally by the home side’s John Egan – was fast approaching.

It arrived after Daryl Janmaat, the Holland right-back, unleashed a left-foot shot from close range after intelligent approach play from Rémy Cabella and Emmanuel Rivière. Even so, it required extra assistance in the form of a deflection off Martin Kelly to ensure the ball found itself on an unstoppable flight-path past Julian Speroni.

It highlighted the dawning realisation that Newcastle’s expensive summer signings – Siem de Jong and Rivière especially – were taking time to adjust to the Premier League, but mercifully for Pardew he was able to liberate Aarons from the bench. As confident as they come, Aarons is a swashbuckling left-winger who delighted in running at Palace’s defence. He is not bad in the air either and proved the point by heading Cabella’s corner home to equalise.

The 18-year-old might have relieved the pressure on his manager – not to mention secured all three points – had his gloriously dipping, swerving, tightly angled shot, dispatched after a cute one-two with Massadio Haïdara, not floated inches wide of the far post.

Not about to settle for a point, he further mollified the home crowd’s mood by skinning Adrian Mariappa and delivering an angled chip that was centimetres away from crossing the line before rebounding off the bar. If Palace sensed a momentary reprieve, such hope was extinguished when Mike Williamson prodded the rebound in from close range.

Unfortunately for Newcastle, there were seven minutes of stoppage time – just long enough for Zaha, who had already come mighty close to scoring, to emphasise that he was not about to be upstaged by Aarons.

By way of regaining the limelight, Zaha met a wonderfully cushioned downward header on the volley, lashing the ball past Krul as, across in the technical area, Warnock jumped up and down like Zebedee, punching thin air with both fists.

“Palace wasted so much time at free-kicks and injuries that I couldn’t believe the referee gave seven minutes stoppage time,” said Pardew. “But it shouldn’t take away from the fact that we should have won – and we didn’t.”